"Take the time to model the same tools you want teachers using with their students.

This is a great coaching opportunity."

Description:

"Turn your ordinary, sometimes boring faculty meeting, into something special and engaging. In this session you will learn about the top digital tools for any school leader to use before, during and after faculty meetings to increase productivity, build collaboration, and make best use of face-to-face time.”

Nearpod- This is a fantastic tool that will allow you to control the pace of the presentation on any device. It includes features such as importing existing .pdf and image files, adding websites for viewing and/or navigating independently, polls, quizzes, open-ended questions, drawing, audio, video, student-paced slideshows, and homework. Idea: Save your typical Powerpoint, Keynote, and word processing file as a .pdf file and upload it to Nearpod. Then add polls, quizzes, and drawings to get your staff interacting with the content. Assign additional slides for homework. Share the files as the faculty views the content through an iPad or laptop.

Socrative- Make a quiz on the fly or share a premade quiz. This tool includes multiple choice, true/false, and short answer quizzes. Quizzes can also be conducted like a game. Idea: As you are discussing various topics in your meeting, have a participant create a poll or quiz on the fly to collect data. http://www.socrative.com

Apollo- Mark up .pdf or image files, import creative commons images, record your markups and voice, and share content on multiple devices in real time. It also has the ability to conduct live quizzes or allow students to draw on the presentation. Idea: Share files with the staff to annotate and make suggestions for revisions or give a quiz on the next school event. http://apollo.atlaslearning.net

Examples/Ideas:

Work towards faculty meetings being more about professional learning and very little about scheduling, announcements, etc.

Take advantage of face-to-face time by modeling good instructional practices including integrating technology when appropriate.

Build capacity with your faculty. Have them present regularly and celebrate their successes.

Use collaborative tools such as Nearpod, LiveSlide, and Socrative to collect data from staff.

Take Advantage of Collaborative Tools

More and more tools are available to encourage the staff to collaborate before, during, and after the faculty meeting. These tools can help get everyone involved and not just those that speak up all the time during the meetings. You would be surprised how many would participate electronically but not verbally. Here are my suggested tools to make this happen.

TodaysMeetThis tool can be used to facilitate back channel conversations as well as gather information while the presentation can continue. It makes for a great way to collect questions or comments without interrupting the conversation butnot forgetting to address the needs of the group. http://todaysmeet.com

There are many videos available to share with faculty before, during or after a faculty meeting. These videos can help the faculty get in the right frame of mind to make your face-to-face meetings more meaningful and productive and serve as a reflection piece.

The Testing Camera by Peter H. Reynolds (3:52) “This
is my gift to educators to remind them to follow their instincts and remember
why they got into teaching in the first place: to see the potential in every
child, to nurture those emerging gifts and talents, and to change lives,”
Reynolds shared. The Testing Camera — a whimsical poke at high-stakes, standardized testing and a reminder that real assessment is as easy, and — at the same time — as challenging as getting to really know the gifts and talents of every child. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PABNMIG5VJc

Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley(19:10, over 4 million views) Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish — and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility. http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley?language=en

Pay Attention - Since most of today's students can appropriately be labeled as "Digital Learners", why do so many teachers refuse to enter the digital age with their teaching practices?This presentation was created in an effort to motivate teachers to more effectively use technology in their teaching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw

9 Wonderful TED talks on Re-Imagining Schools - The folks in TED have recently featured a list comprising 12 talks on the topic" re-imagining school". I selected the 9 I have watched over the last couple of years to feature in the list below. I am pretty sure you are already familiar with some of these talks but you will definitely find some new ones to watch. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/03/9-wonderful-ted-talks-on-re-imagining.html

First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy - If you've learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let's watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ